A History of Twins Trades for Relievers at the Deadline

[Nick Nelson]

The Twins clearly need to trade for relief help before the upcoming August 2nd deadline arrives. And they're going to

How much will it make a difference for the better? The past paints a checkered picture.

 

For the sake of keeping things succinct and semi-relevant, we're going to limit this retrospective analysis to the Target Field years. Which of course means we begin with one of the most infamous deadline deals in franchise history.

2010

• July 29: Twins Trade C Wilson Ramos to Nationals for RHP Matt Capps

In a classic Minnesota Sports Twist of Fate™, legendary Twins closer Joe Nathan tore his UCL in spring training of 2010 – a season where the Twins would go on to field arguably the best team of their entire run under Ron Gardenhire. 

As the deadline approached, the team had one glaring need, at least in the eyes of a front office led by general manager Bill Smith: a proven veteran closer to offset the loss of Nathan. Sure, Jon Rauch – acquired in a post-deadline deal the previous season – had been doing a perfectly adequate job, but he didn't have all those precious saves on his résumé. 

In a display of the backwards thinking that would soon lead the franchise into a complete and sustained collapse, Smith's front office made the outrageous decision to trade away a highly touted, MLB-ready, slugging catcher in 22-year-old Wilson Ramos, to acquire Matt Capps from Washington. Capps was a pretty ordinary reliever who entranced the Twins with his good first half and experience as a closer (even though he'd been terrible the previous year). 

In fairness, he proved to be a successful acquisition for the 2010 season, posting a 2.00 ERA and converting 16 of 18 saves the rest of the way. But he was inconsequential in the playoffs, as the Twins never had a late lead against New York. Capps was bad the next season, hurt in 2012, and then done as a major-leaguer before turning 30. 

Ramos went on to finish fourth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2011, and make two All-Star games in an impressive MLB career that isn't necessarily over yet. He's currently rehabbing from ACL surgery at age 34. His loss became especially painful when Joe Mauer had to move off catcher a year later and the Twins were left with an empty cupboard at catcher.

One of the worst trades in Minnesota Twins history, bar none – in large part because it was so obviously a horrendous decision at the moment it was made.

2015

• July 31: Twins Trade Pitching Prospects Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia to Rays for RHP Kevin Jepsen

This move, like the previous one, was driven by the Twins realizing a need in the late innings due to injuries impacting their star closer. Glen Perkins did not experience a season-ending injury in 2015 -- in fact, he made his third straight All-Star Game -- but as the trade deadline approached, it became clear something was amiss. He blew two saves in the second half of July as his strikeouts evaporated and hitters began to tee off.

Finding themselves on the fringe of postseason contention for the first time in five years, Terry Ryan and the Twins knew they needed to shore up the bullpen. They struck a deal on deadline day to acquire Kevin Jepsen from the Rays in exchange for a pair of lower-tier pitching prospects.

The Twins actually deserve a lot of credit for this move, even if it didn't pay real dividends as they missed the playoffs by a longshot. Jepsen pitched very well -- much better than he had up to that point in Tampa, or really at any point in his eight-year career, spent mostly with the Angels. In 29 appearances for the Twins, Jepsen posted a 1.61 ERA and 0.89 WHIP over 28 innings, converting 10-of-11 saves.  

Much like with Capps, it was all downhill from there. Jepsen absolutely bombed for the 2016 Twins, posting a 6.16 ERA in 33 appearances before they cut him loose in July. From there, he was pretty much done as a big-leaguer, posting a 5.80 ERA in 35 ⅔ innings for the Rays and Rangers. 

Capps was 27 when the Twins acquired him; Jepsen had just turned 31. Both were performing well and at least somewhat highly regarded. And yet both were essentially out of baseball after short, doomed stints with the team. Really something.

In any case, the return on this deal never hurt the Twins. Chih-Wei Hu appeared briefly in the majors but fizzled out after 23 innings. He's now pitching in China. Alexis Tapia never got past Single-A.

2019

• July 27: Twins Trade 1B Lewin Diaz to Marlins for RHP Sergio Romo

Of all trades in this category from the past couple of decades, this is probably the prototype for getting it right. The Twins gave up a decent but hardly indispensable prospect in Lewin Diaz, and got back a veteran rental reliever who was (almost) everything they wanted him to be. 

A 12-year MLB veteran and three-time World Series champ, Sergio Romo was flat-out excellent down the stretch, posting a 3.18 ERA and 27-to-4 K/BB ratio in 22 ⅔ innings to help stabilize the bullpen and lock up a division crown. They liked him enough that they re-signed him as a free agent in the offseason, although that proved to be perhaps not a great choice.

Diaz still has a chance to haunt the Twins, I guess. He's only 25 and has hit well enough at Triple-A to get some chances with James Rowson's Marlins. But even if not for this trade, Minnesota would've likely moved on a while long ago.

It should be noted that while this has to be viewed as one of the franchise's most successful trades for a reliever at the deadline, they still didn't really get what they wanted out of it. Part of Romo's appeal was in his postseason track record, but that paid no dividends for the Twins. He gave up two runs in two innings in the 2019 ALDS and then had a meltdown in his lone appearance against Houston in 2020.

• July 31: Twins Trade 3 Prospects to Giants for RHP Sam Dyson

And we conclude with the prototype for getting it wrong. So very, very wrong. The ill-fated trade with the Giants for Sam Dyson went sour almost immediately, with the Twins front office seemingly taking an unfair share of criticism in a situation where they themselves were bamboozled.

The announcement of a move for Dyson trickled in just as the 3:00 PM deadline elapsed on the 31st, with the Twins sending a package of three semi-interesting prospects (outfielder Jaylin Davis, pitchers Kai-Wei Tang and Prelander Berroa) to San Francisco in the deal. Dyson was enjoying a very good season, with a 2.47 ERA and 0.90 WHIP in 51 innings. 

Upon arriving in Minnesota, he fell apart right away, coughing up six earned runs while recording two outs in his first two appearances. Demoted instantly to a middle-innings role, the right-hander sputtered through 10 more unimpressive appearances before being shut down and revealing that he'd been dealing with shoulder pain since well before the trade.

The Twins, miffed by the transaction of damaged goods, launched an investigation into the Giants, who claimed to unaware of Dyson's non-disclosed injury. It didn't go anywhere, that I know of. 

To top it all off, Dyson was subsequently outed as an even worse person than pitcher. Allegations by his ex-girlfriend Alexis Blackburn that November led to the reliever receiving the longest-ever suspension under MLB's domestic violence policy. More recently, this past December, Blackburn filed in court for accusations of rape, battery, and infliction of emotional distress against Dyson. He's all but certainly done as a big-leaguer, joining Capps and Jepsen as relatively young and effective relievers (he was 31 when acquired) who came to the Twins and saw their careers end very quickly -- albeit under very different circumstances here.

The Twins certainly couldn't have known anything about Dyson's off-field issues, and they also didn't know about his pre-existing injury. That's the nature of last-minute deadline deals ... you don't really have an opportunity to complete in-depth medical evaluations. 

But maybe that's the lesson that can be taken away from this unfortunate example: when you wait until literally the last moment before the deadline, you leave yourself in a situation where your options become limited and your decisions can become rushed. Maybe it's no surprise that the reliever they acquired four days earlier worked out much better.

In other words, it would be good to see the Twins act a bit more quickly on their needs this time around. The trade deadline is 12 days away.

 

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[Craig Arko]

Maybe standing pat isn’t such a bad idea. The whole devil you know thing.

[nicksaviking]

Yeah, I know this team needs bullpen help and I want and expect them to address it, but I'm not giving anyone they get strong odds to succeed. Year-to-year, organization-to-organization, relief pitchers overall are just not terribly reliable. I don't think what they are doing right now with their current team is much of an indicator of what  they'll do for the Twins.

[railmarshalljon]

Trading away Ramos showed two things; how unimaginative the coaching staff and FO at the time were and how poor they perceived the value of the catcher position. That trade would've looked a lot better were it for an actual stud reliever with team control. Also, Mauer had a history of injuries. Splitting time with Ramos would've been ideal.

I'm thinking David Robertson would be the right move. Probably only cost a Low A prospect and he's long been a reliable arm with postseason experience to boot. 

[Rosterman]

Dyson is back and pitching well in…Mexico. Room just became available! Could they replace two people currently pitching? At little or no cost?